But in order for your blog content to make a difference, it has to be seen by the right audience. Thinking up great blog post ideas is the first step, but marketing that post after publication is just as vital.

To ensure that your blog posts are seen by the right people, here’s a checklist for you to follow after they go public.

1. Share on Social Media

First and foremost, you should alert your social media followers.

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn should be your main focus, although it depends on the industry you’re in. Also, don’t forget to employ a range of social media marketing tactics like GIFs, hashtags, and emojis to get the most out of your social media posts.

The internet is brimming with discussion boards that focus on topics such as marketing, startups, cars, horses, candles, and everything in between. Thus, finding a forum that aligns with your niche shouldn’t be too difficult.

Once you find a popular one, participate in a way that brings value to others by responding to threads, voting in polls, and engaging with the community. That way, when the time comes to share your latest blog post, you won’t be met with angry comments – or worse yet, the ban hammer.

Some forums strictly forbid any type of website promotion though, so be sure to stick to the rules.

3. Answer Comments

If your blog post has received comments, it’s absolutely vital that you respond to all of them – even if they don’t pose any questions.

At the very least, a “thanks for the comment!” response will be enough to encourage others to share their views. Plus, it will boost your comment count.

Think about it, if you respond to every comment, your comment count will double on every blog post, making your blog look even busier.

4. Monitor Using Google Alerts

Google Alerts is your friend when it comes to checking if your post is going viral.

Google Alerts let you set up email alerts for the keywords within your article, so you can track any mentions it receives across the web.

You can start by heading to the Google Alerts homepage and entering your keyword or phrase. Click on Show options to set an alert frequency and customize any other parameters that you need. Then, wait for the alerts to roll in.

5. Email People

Sharing your content is good. Having other people share your content is great.

But do you know what’s even better? Having an influencer in your niche spread your content to their enormous audience – and yes, it can happen.

It all starts by you emailing influencers in your industry with your blog post, explaining (briefly) why their audience will benefit from reading it, and politely asking them to share it. It also helps if you mention them or link to them within the blog post itself.

Find your niche by running a subreddit search, and then post a link or text post that leads to your blog post. If your content is good enough to go viral, you can bet that aggregator sites will be a key source of the traffic.

As with forums, be careful not to anger the moderators – if they specify that outbound links are against the regulations of the subreddit, it’s best to steer clear (they’ll only delete your submission, anyway).

Just as with forums and aggregation sites, you’re highly likely to come across a relevant Facebook or LinkedIn group if you scour each platform. You may need to apply to join a group, but once you’re in, you can begin engaging with other members.

Once again, add value to existing discussions before sharing your own content, and always follow the rules of the group – which are run by the group’s founders, rather than Facebook or LinkedIn directly.

Publishing is Half the Battle

You may think that clicking the publish button entitles you to finally relax – but it doesn’t.

Even if you have a steady stream of website visitors and automated social sharing set up, your blog post simply won’t reach its potential unless you run through the checklist above. Try it next time, and you’ll see what I mean.

Got any other tips on how to market a new blog post? Tell us in the comments section below!

About the Author

Kaya Ismail is a wordsmith and founder of Employ the Internet. He is a seasoned content marketer with a love for video games and coffee.

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